


Domesticity

by Snabulous



Series: To Shine Just A Little Light [2]
Category: Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard - Rick Riordan
Genre: Blitzstone, Both of them are adorable, Cuddling, Domestic Bliss, Ignorance about deaf people, M/M, Unrecognized feelings, they're basically a couple
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-23
Updated: 2016-10-23
Packaged: 2018-08-23 21:17:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,769
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8343121
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Snabulous/pseuds/Snabulous
Summary: There's nothing like a little domestic bliss.





	

Hearthstone flipped the switch by the doorway. Lights came on overhead, illuminating Blitzen's sleeping figure, hidden under a mountain of blankets. Blitz was slowly roused, but he dove completely under the covers once he was conscious enough to figure out what was going on. Hearth couldn't hear him, but he muttered Norse curses at his elf under his breath. _Not getting up_ , he thought menacingly. Hearthstone was not deterred. He crossed the threshold of their room and stopped beside the bed. He stared down at his friend and, with one swift, merciless motion, stripped off the six blankets covering Blitz, exposing him to the chilly air.

Blitz did not stir, so Hearth poked him in the side. He still didn't open his eyes. Hearth reached over and opened them for him. His fingers were cold as ice. And thus Blitzen's attention was effectively obtained.

"Okay, okay, fine," he grumbled, his voice thick with sleep, "I'm awake. What do you want? I'm trying to sleep."

Hearth raised an eyebrow at him, a look that said "obviously" without the words. _It's almost eight_ , he signed.

Blitz groaned and rolled over. He tried in vain to burrow back under the blankets like the maggots that had formed Nidavellir, but Hearthstone had other ideas. He pushed his friend over on his other side so they were facing, ignoring the way his heart sped up at the touch. He signed, _You have to open your shop soon. Get up._

Blitz stared at Hearth for a moment. They locked eyes, an intense battle encased in a few seconds and two gazes. Blitzen lost. He narrowed his dark eyes, signed _fine_ , and rolled off their bed onto the floor. He then jumped to his feet, not at all embarrassed that he was totally naked except for a rather expensive-looking pair of green silk boxers.

_You have twenty minutes_ , Hearthstone told Blitz.

"What?!" Blitz yelled. Then he switched to ASL. His tired fingers didn't want to form all the words, but he managed to sign, _Why didn't you wake me up earlier?_

_I did. You didn't get up then either._

_Don't be so smug, Hearth. Now we won't be ready in time._

_No,_ you _won't be ready. I'm already ready._ Hearth gestured to his clothes and looked at Blitz, eyebrow raised again. He was wearing almost exactly the same thing he was wearing the day before, and the day before that, and the day before that: a black leather jacket, black motorcycle pants, and a white and red striped scarf. Today, he had on a black t-shirt under his jacket that had the logo for the game _Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft_ across the chest. It was a shirt that Magnus had gotten for him as a joke, but it ended up being one of Hearth's favorites. His white blond hair spiked up from his head, and Blitz wondered in the back of his mind how he managed to keep it that way all the time.

Blitzen rolled his eyes and turn to their closet. Behind his back, Hearth watched him for a minute before drifting off to make breakfast. He pushed Hearth's stuff out of the way (it was literally only two more pairs of black motorcycle pants and four t-shirts; Blitz was disappointed just looking at it) and then stood there staring absently at his clothes for a bit too long while his brain tried to come up with a good outfit for the day's activities. He wasn't planning on going outside in the daylight, so something lighter would do...

After digging around for a minute, he came up with a pinkish champagne coloured leather jacket that would look _amazing_ with a pale jade green button up he discovered hanging up a few hangers away. He shimmied into a pair of cloud blue jeans to complete the look. Blitz modeled in the mirror that hung on the door of the closet, inspecting it from all sides. He decided it was a lot more casual than what he would normally go for, but it had been ages since he wore this jacket and it just looked _so_ good.

Hearth popped his head into the room, flickered the lights a few times to get Blitz's attention, and signed, _Opens in five minutes._ Then he absentmindedly stared at Blitzen bending over as he chose a pair of socks. He blinked and smiled a tiny smile, barely moving his lips.

Blitz smiled. _It's my shop, it opens when I say it opens_ , Blitzen signed, pausing to finish pulling on his socks. _Let me brush my teeth and I'll be golden._

Hearth nodded and disappeared around the corner. He went into the kitchen and stared at the plate of eggs on the counter. He knew Blitz liked eggs. Hearth's eyes wandered to the cracked door that hid their room. _Blitzen looked really good in that leather jacket_ , he thought, resting his back against the counter as the image of Blitz came up in his mind. _Suits him well. Wish I looked as good in my jacket as he does in his._ He stood there, tracing the lines of his friend's figure with his mind's eye, his physical eyes glazing as he stared into space.

Finally, Blitzen came out of their bedroom, looking snazzy as ever. He made finger guns at his friend, grinning. Hearth smiled faintly back. _Ready now_ , the dwarf signed cheerfully. Hearth watched Blitz go to the door that led to the boutique _Blitz's Best_ and followed with his eyes as he disappeared down the staircase.

Hearth looked back at the eggs he had made and picked the plate up. He thought about throwing them away because he knew that once Blitzen was in his zone, he wouldn't stop for hours. He might not even eat lunch that day. _I'll just make some tomorrow_ , he thought, dumping the cooling eggs in the trash bin.

Hearth went downstairs and was met by the smell of fabric. It was sharp and would've been headache inducing if it had been much stronger. He found his friend helping a customer find a pair of slacks to match a bright paisley shirt. Hearth thought it was atrocious, but it certainly was something Blitz would wear. Hearth went behind the cash register and took a seat on a stool. Under the counter, there were books about rune magic the occasional scroll. He pulled out a couple of the larger books and began poring over them, as he did every day. He and Blitz pretended that he was helping when he sat back there because he would sometimes ring up a customer, but he mostly was just there to study and be around Blitz. Blitz didn't mind, though. He also appreciated the proximity to his closest friend.

"No, no, not that color. _Never_ that color. Not with chartreuse," Blitz said to the customer, holding up pair of white slacks. "See, these two compliment each other so much better."

"Ah, yes, I see," the man said. He hesitated. "Is this the one I should go with? I'm not a clothes expert."

Blitz smiled a charming smile and laughed. "I certainly think so. If you'll follow me, my buddy can ring you up." He motioned for the customer to follow him and went up to the register.

Blitz waved in Hearth's line of sight, which roused him from his stupor. He smiled when he saw the dwarf and then looked around, noticing the customer. He signed to Blitz, _Check out?_ Blitz nodded and laid the pair of pants on the counter. Then he suddenly began adjusting a rack of socks as if he just noticed they were askew.

The customer smiled awkwardly at Hearthstone, whose lips twitched upward to acknowledge the smile. He checked him out silently, as he didn't exactly have any alternatives. The customer looked slightly confused. He turned to Blitz and asked, "Can he hear?"

Blitz looked up. "Who, Hearth? No. He's deaf. But don't talk bad about him," Blitz said jokingly, "he can read lips pretty well." The man just kind of nodded and slowly looked back to Hearth, who was finishing putting the pants carefully as not to wrinkle them into a bag. Hearth waved at the man a little and pointed to the total on the little sign above the register. The man pulled out his wallet and produced a card, which he handed to Hearth.

"It must be hard to have a deaf employee. Can't communicate with the customers very well," the man said.

"Oh, no, it's not hard. And he doesn't work here, he's my best friend. He just helps out sometimes. I'm grateful for him." Blitz smiled at Hearth, who just raised an eyebrow questioningly.

Hearth held the man's card out to him and then passed the bag over the counter. He signed _thank you_ and looked back down at his books without another glance.

The rest of the day passed in a similar fashion; Blitz helped someone find something, Hearth checked them out while the customer stood there awkwardly in silence until they could get their stuff and leave. The both of them thought it was a pretty good thing they had going, and so it was. When the store was empty, Blitz would stand behind the checkout counter next to Hearth and sketch designs for a new line of shirts, the both of them quiet, merely enjoying the others' presence.

The sun went down outside, turning the tinted windows black and opaque. It was then, at 6:30, that Blitz decided to shut it down for the day. He locked the doors and went to tap Hearth on the shoulder to alert him that he was closing for the day. Hearth nodded and packed up his things, stacking them neatly under the counter again, just as they were that morning. The two of them went upstairs again to their apartment together.

Hearth decided to sit under his tanning bed for a while to keep his strength up. The tanning bed was in the corner of their bedroom so they could still be in the same room if Hearth decided he needed to sleep under that instead of the bed, but he didn't do that much anymore. He flipped a switch and a soft glow came out from under the lid. He lifted it up carefully and laid down in it. He closed his eyes and let the warmth soak into his skin. The gentle light surrounded him comfortingly, and he found himself drifting off after a while.

Blitz was still in the kitchen. He was putting the finishing touches on the last design when a low rumbling sound came from his stomach. He glanced down at it and decided it must be time to eat. When he checked in their fridge, however, he found that, once again, they were out of everything except frozen egg rolls. He was getting a bit sick of those. Still, he pulled out the box and slid out the last three and put them on a plate. He popped the microwave open and stuck them in, and turned it on for five minutes.

He raised his arms in the air and stretched, groaning about his stiff muscles. _Sitting and sketching for a long time is_ not _comfortable_ , he thought as he watched the timer go down. Ten, nine, eight, seven... He should try doing it standing. Three, two- He pushed the button before the beeping started and pulled the steaming egg rolls out. He got another plate and set it on the table next to the first and put one of them on it. He pushed the plate with two of them on it to where Hearth normally sat and put the one with the single egg roll in his own place.

Standing in the doorway of their room, Blitz looked at Hearth's running tanning bed, debating with himself about waking him up. Finally, he just gave in and approached the slightly glowing bed. He raised the lid and looked down at his friend. "Hearth," Blitzen whispered even though he couldn't hear him. He poked his shoulder repeatedly until his grey eyes opened. Hearth's vision was a little blurry, but he made out Blitz's figure standing over him.

 _I made dinner_ , Blitzen signed when Hearthstone asked what he wanted. 

_Egg rolls?_ Hearth asked.

_Egg rolls._

Hearth swung his legs off the tanning bed and stood up. They were standing close, chests almost touching. Blitzen was suddenly and intensely aware of their height difference. He looked up and he could see the graceful curve of his neck that tapered off into a sharp jawline, and he noticed how his eyelashes, which were generally translucent, were quite visible from this angle. The moment seemed to drag on for longer than the couple of seconds that it was, and, suddenly, it was over when Hearthstone took a step backward. _Dinner_ , he signed. Blitz smiled his signature charming smile and followed him out.

The two of them ate in silence, just like they always did. Hearth asked him if he wanted the second egg roll because he only gave himself one, but Blitz said no, and claimed to have already had another one earlier. Hearth just shrugged and bit into the second one.

 _We need to go to the store_ , Hearth eventually signed after finishing his food. _We're out of basically everything now._

Blitz nodded, so Hearth stood up to check on the position of the sun. If it was dark outside, they could walk to the corner store and back. Luckily, the sun was setting behind the buildings. Day would only last a few more minutes. He signed this to Blitz and went to put his shoes on. Blitzen came after him and followed suit.

The air outside was biting. Snow lined the sidewalks and accumulated in dirty sludge filled with rocks and cigarette butts on the roads, making for rather unattractive scenery. Hearth had his hands shoved in his pockets the whole walk. Normally, this would be read as _Don't talk to me right now_ , but Blitz read it more as _It's really fricking cold out here and I must sacrifice my communication for the sake of not losing fingers to frostbite._ Blitz too had his hands tucked neatly inside a long cream coat he had donned to fight the winter frigidity, and a matching panama-style hat covered his head. The two of them walked very close together, elbows bumping and hips occasionally brushing. His heart skipped a beat every time they touched, but Hearth passed it off as trying to stay warm with shared body heat.

The teenager sitting behind the cash register didn't even glance up as Blitzen opened the glass door and allowed Hearth to pass inside. Hearth found that inside was very warm so he made his way as far from the door as possible to retain the warmth. Blitz chose a shopping cart and meandered down the aisles until he found Hearth, who was picking out frozen waffles, the kind with the chocolate chips in them. Blitz internally praised his friend's taste in Eggos, as the chocolate chip ones were vastly superior to their chip-less counterparts. Hearth dropped two boxes of them in the buggy and held one hand out and flipped the other hand over repeatedly on top of it, signing _waffles_. He smiled faintly.

The two of them walked side-by-side, picking out mostly random food whenever they saw something they knew the other liked. Over the speakers, pop songs played softly, serenading their progress. At one point, Hearth suggested they get some fruit because most everything they picked out wasn't particularly good for them, so they stood in front of a small stand with a few bunches of bananas and argued silently in ASL about which ones to get. They went back and forth, _those are alien bananas, we can't eat those_ , and _they won't last if they're yellow now!_ They ended up picking out apples instead.

They were still bickering about bananas when they got to the register. The teenager watched with bored interest, chewing on her lip ring, at their hand movements, not knowing what they were saying but entranced by it anyway. She scanned and bagged the groceries lazily, once coming very close to putting the eggs on the bottom of a bag. Hearth and Blitz shared a look, eyebrows raised. When it finally came to when they needed to pay, the girl said, slowly and deliberately, leaning forward as if proximity would make them hear her, "That will be $27.64."

Blitz smiled, barely managing to keep the bitterness at her out of his expression, and pulled enough money to pay for it out of his (extremely stylish) wallet. She handed him back his change. He took it and said, slowly and deliberately, leaning forward as if proximity would make her hear him, "Thank you." Hearth raised an eyebrow and touched his hand to his lips and brought it down, palm up: _thank you_.

The walk back was even colder than the walk there, so Blitz and Hearth walked even closer, their sides basically pressed together, with the grocery bags protruding out from the other side. A car drove past them, the bass thumping through the fogged windows, and then was gone, disappearing around a corner. It was quite dark outside by that point. Street lamps illuminated the sidewalks and streets, and no one was out to see the pretty color of the sky. Hearthstone found himself staring at it, still as in awe of the night sky as he was the first time he saw it, even though this time the stars were hidden by light pollution. In Alfheim, there was no night, so the setting sun and the moon were fairly new concepts to him, and he liked that detail that set this world apart from that one. It was comforting.

Their apartment was delightfully toasty when they arrived home. Hearth sighed through his nose as he toed off his boots, his hands full of plastic grocery bags. Blitz kicked off his shoes and hurried to the kitchen to set his load down. He began putting things away in the cabinets and the refrigerator. He was almost done when Hearthstone came in, still shivering slightly, and dropped his bags off on the table. They worked around each other seamlessly, Hearth sometimes reaching over Blitz's head to put something on a higher shelf.

The two of them drifted off at different times to do their own thing. Hearthstone settled down in the living room with his copy of _Rune Magic With the All-Father_ and was occupied by that for quite a long while. He'd gone through it multiple times already, but he still continued to reread it in hopes there was still more to learn from Odin's teaching. Blitzen made himself a cup of cocoa and just stood in the kitchen, leaning against the sink, contemplating. Or, rather, doing the opposite of contemplating. His mind was blissfully devoid of thought for a few minutes while he sipped his drink. Eventually, he floated into the sitting room and made himself comfortable in one of the chairs facing Hearth, who was sitting on the couch, his long legs folded underneath him, completely absorbed in his book. The world obviously did not exist for him in that moment, so Blitz watched him, occasionally raising his warm mug to his lips. Hearth read unblinkingly, silent except for the sound of the paper swishing when he turned a page. Blitz liked how he looked right then. He was concentrated, eyebrows furrowed and his mouth slightly down-turned, but he didn't have the look of underlying preoccupation with something more than what he was doing that he often had. It was pleasant to see someone he cared about in the zone, free of the world for just a little bit.

Time ticked on and on, until Blitz ran out of cocoa and the clock on the wall read 11:24. By then he had been holding an empty cup for a while, feeling the porcelain grow cold in his fingers, which really just made him think more about his friend. Empty cups... A family of empty cups. But Blitzen was suddenly aware of how tired he was. He stood up and went back into the kitchen. He turned the water on and rinsed his mug out, then set it in the sink.

Blitz was reluctant to distract his friend from his reading, but he waved his hand within Heartstone's vision to get his attention. Hearth looked up blearily and blinked twice. He finally seemed to register that Blitz was standing there, so Blitz signed, _I'm going to bed. Don't stay up too late._ Hearth glanced at the clock and then shut his book.

 _I should sleep too_ , he signed back.

Blitzen held out a hand for Hearth to take, and he pulled him up when their hands met. They went to their room together, walking as close as always, and their hands bumped into each other, leaving little spots of warm where they touched. They changed out of their clothes side-by-side. Hearth left on his _Hearthstone_ t-shirt and put on a pair of flannel pants. Blitz, who had stripped down to a pair of boxers again, would have called literally anyone else out on how those pajamas did _not_ match, but, for some reason, it was just cute on Hearth. He made a mental note to think through that on a later date. He climbed into their bed and nuzzled into his pillow like a cat. Hearth flipped the light off and then got into bed too. He had an urge to turn and put himself right up against Blitz, form himself around the dwarf's body, but he didn't. He wasn't sure that was something you did with your friend, so, like most other things he was uncertain about, he put a pin in it to come back to later.

Hours later, in the very early hours of the morning, Blitzen rolled over in his sleep. He bumped into something warm and comfortable. His semi-unconscious mind recognized this as Hearth. He nestled closer the the warmth of his friend, putting his nose on the back of his neck and breathing in the comforting familiar smell. Though his body was shorter, he tucked his legs into the warm crook of Hearth's and draped his arm over his waist. Hearth, who was roused by the movement, thought, _so it_ is _something you do with your friend_ , before drifting off contentedly again.

**Author's Note:**

> All the signs that I did not already know, I got from aslpro.com. This is also posted on Wattpad under the name HigherMathematics.  
> (A few days after writing this, my ASL teacher informed me that the sign that aslpro.com told me was "waffle" is actually cooking (I felt very betrayed, let me tell you). She said that a Deaf person/someone who communicated using ASL would just spell "waffle" (much to my disappointment) if they needed to say it. So, the bit where Hearth signs "Waffle" at the convenience store is not correct. I don't really want to change it because it's cute, but let it be known that that is not the sign for waffle.)


End file.
